Energy Savings and Building Efficiency Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3586 To promote energy savings in residential and commercial buildings and industry, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 27, 2019 Mr. SCHRADER (for himself, Mr. FLORES, Mr. CORREA, Mr. PETERSON, and Mr. O’HALLERAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To promote energy savings in residential and commercial buildings and industry, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Energy Savings and Building Efficiency Act of 2019’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definition of Secretary. TITLE I—BUILDINGS Subtitle A—Building Energy Codes VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3586 IH Sec. 101. Greater energy efficiency in building codes. Subtitle B—Worker Training and Capacity Building Sec. 111. Building training and assessment centers. TITLE II—MISCELLANEOUS Sec. 201. Voluntary nature of building asset rating program. SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY. 1 In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec- 2 retary of Energy. 3 TITLE I—BUILDINGS 4 Subtitle A—Building Energy Codes 5 SEC. 101. GREATER ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN BUILDING 6 CODES. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 303 of the Energy Con- 8 servation and Production Act (42 U.S.C. 6832) is amend- 9 ed— 10 (1) by striking paragraph (14) and inserting 11 the following: 12 ‘‘(14) MODEL BUILDING ENERGY CODE.—The 13 term ‘model building energy code’ means a voluntary 14 building energy code or standard developed and up- 15 dated through a consensus process among interested 16 persons, such as the IECC or ASHRAE Standard 17 90.1 or a code used by other appropriate organiza- 18 tions.’’; and 19 (2) by adding at the end the following: 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3586 IH ‘‘(17) IECC.—The term ‘IECC’ means the 1 International Energy Conservation Code as pub- 2 lished by the International Code Council. 3 ‘‘(18) ASHRAE STANDARD 90.1.—The term 4 ‘ASHRAE Standard 90.1’ means the American So- 5 ciety of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning 6 Engineers ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1 7 Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise 8 Residential Buildings. 9 ‘‘(19) COST-EFFECTIVE.—The term ‘cost-effec- 10 tive’ means having a simple payback of 10 years or 11 less. 12 ‘‘(20) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian tribe’ 13 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 14 Native American Housing Assistance and Self-De- 15 termination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103). 16 ‘‘(21) SIMPLE PAYBACK.—The term ‘simple 17 payback’ means the time in years that is required 18 for energy savings to exceed the incremental first 19 cost of a new requirement or code. 20 ‘‘(22) TECHNICALLY FEASIBLE.—The term 21 ‘technically feasible’ means capable of being 22 achieved, based on widely available appliances, 23 equipment, technologies, materials, and construction 24 practices.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3586 IH (b) STATE BUILDING ENERGY EFFICIENCY 1 CODES.—Section 304 of the Energy Conservation and 2 Production Act (42 U.S.C. 6833) is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 ‘‘SEC. 304. UPDATING STATE BUILDING ENERGY EFFI- 5 CIENCY CODES. 6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide tech- 7 nical assistance, as described in subsection (e), for the 8 purposes of— 9 ‘‘(1) implementation of building energy codes 10 by States, Indian tribes, and, as appropriate, by 11 local governments, that are technically feasible and 12 cost-effective; and 13 ‘‘(2) supporting full compliance with the State 14 and local codes. 15 ‘‘(b) STATE AND INDIAN TRIBE CERTIFICATION OF 16 BUILDING ENERGY CODE UPDATES.— 17 ‘‘(1) REVIEW AND UPDATING OF CODES BY 18 EACH STATE AND INDIAN TRIBE.— 19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 20 after the date on which a model building energy 21 code is published, each State or Indian tribe 22 shall certify whether or not the State or Indian 23 tribe, respectively, has reviewed and updated 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3586 IH the energy provisions of the building code of the 1 State or Indian tribe, respectively. 2 ‘‘(B) DEMONSTRATION.—The certification 3 shall include a statement of whether or not the 4 energy savings for the code provisions that are 5 in effect throughout the State or Indian tribal 6 territory meet or exceed— 7 ‘‘(i) the energy savings of the most re- 8 cently published model building energy 9 code; or 10 ‘‘(ii) the energy savings of the existing 11 Energy code previously in effect. 12 ‘‘(C) NO MODEL BUILDING ENERGY CODE 13 UPDATE.—If a model building energy code is 14 not updated, each State or Indian tribe shall 15 not be subject to any certification requirements. 16 ‘‘(2) VALIDATION BY SECRETARY.—Not later 17 than 90 days after a State or Indian tribe certifi- 18 cation under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 19 ‘‘(A) determine whether the code provi- 20 sions of the State or Indian tribe, respectively, 21 meet the criteria specified in paragraph (1); 22 ‘‘(B) determine whether the certification 23 submitted by the State or Indian tribe, respec- 24 tively is complete; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3586 IH ‘‘(C) if the requirements of subparagraph 1 (B) are satisfied, validate the certification. 2 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this section 3 shall be interpreted to require a State or Indian 4 tribe to adopt any building code or provision within 5 a code. 6 ‘‘(c) IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPLIANCE WITH BUILD- 7 ING ENERGY CODES.— 8 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.— 9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 10 after the date of a certification under sub- 11 section (b), each State and Indian tribe shall 12 certify whether or not the State and Indian 13 tribe, respectively, has— 14 ‘‘(i) achieved full compliance under 15 paragraph (3) with the applicable certified 16 State and Indian tribe building energy 17 code or with the associated model building 18 energy code; or 19 ‘‘(ii) made significant progress under 20 paragraph (4) toward achieving compliance 21 with the applicable certified State and In- 22 dian tribe building energy code or with the 23 associated model building energy code. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3586 IH ‘‘(B) REPEAT CERTIFICATIONS.—If the 1 State or Indian tribe certifies progress toward 2 achieving compliance, the State or Indian tribe 3 shall repeat the certification until the State or 4 Indian tribe certifies that the State or Indian 5 tribe has achieved full compliance, respectively. 6 ‘‘(2) MEASUREMENT OF COMPLIANCE.—A cer- 7 tification under paragraph (1) shall include docu- 8 mentation of the rate of compliance based on— 9 ‘‘(A) inspections of a random sample of the 10 buildings covered by the code in the preceding 11 year; or 12 ‘‘(B) an alternative method that yields an 13 accurate measure of compliance. 14 ‘‘(3) ACHIEVEMENT OF COMPLIANCE.—A State 15 or Indian tribe shall be considered to achieve full 16 compliance under paragraph (1) if— 17 ‘‘(A) at least 90 percent of building space 18 covered by the code in the preceding year sub- 19 stantially meets all the requirements of the ap- 20 plicable code specified in paragraph (1), or 21 achieves equivalent or greater energy savings 22 level; or 23 ‘‘(B) the estimated excess energy use of 24 buildings that did not meet the applicable code 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3586 IH specified in paragraph (1) in the preceding 1 year, compared to a baseline of comparable 2 buildings that meet this code, is not more than 3 5 percent of the estimated energy use of all 4 buildings covered by this code during the pre- 5 ceding year. 6 ‘‘(4) SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS TOWARD 7 ACHIEVEMENT OF COMPLIANCE.—A State or Indian 8 tribe shall be considered to have made significant 9 progress toward achieving compliance for purposes 10 of paragraph (1) if the State or Indian tribe has de- 11 veloped and is implementing a plan for achieving 12 compliance during the 8-year period beginning on 13 the date of enactment of this paragraph, including 14 annual targets for compliance and active training 15 and enforcement programs. 16 ‘‘(5) VALIDATION BY SECRETARY.—Not later 17 than 90 days after a State or Indian tribe certifi- 18 cation under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 19 ‘‘(A) determine whether the State or In- 20 dian tribe has demonstrated meeting the cri- 21 teria of this subsection, including accurate 22 measurement of compliance; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3586 IH ‘‘(B) determine whether the certification 1 submitted by the State or Indian tribe is com- 2 plete; and 3 ‘‘(C) if the requirements of subparagraph 4 (B) are satisfied, validate the certification. 5 ‘‘(6) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this section 6 shall be interpreted to require a State or Indian 7 tribe to adopt any building code or provision within 8 a code. 9 ‘‘(d) STATES OR INDIAN TRIBES THAT DO NOT 10 ACHIEVE COMPLIANCE.— 11 ‘‘(1) REPORTING.—A State or Indian tribe that 12 has not made a certification required under sub- 13 section (b) or (c) by the applicable deadline shall 14 submit to the Secretary a report on the status of the 15 State or Indian tribe with respect to meeting the re- 16 quirements and submitting the certification. 17 ‘‘(2) STATE SOVEREIGNTY.—Nothing in this 18 section shall be interpreted to require a State or In- 19 dian tribe to adopt any building code or provision 20 within a code. 21 ‘‘(3) LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—In any State or 22 Indian tribe for which the Secretary has not vali- 23 dated a certification under subsection (b) or (c), a 24 local government may be eligible for Federal support 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3586 IH by meeting the certification requirements of sub- 1 sections (b) and (c). 2 ‘‘(4) ANNUAL REPORTS BY SECRETARY.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 4 annually submit to Congress, and publish in the 5 Federal Register, a report on— 6 ‘‘(i) the status of model building en- 7 ergy codes; 8 ‘‘(ii) the status of code adoption and 9 compliance in the States and Indian tribes; 10 ‘‘(iii) implementation of this section; 11 and 12 ‘‘(iv) improvements in energy savings 13 over time. 14 ‘‘(B) IMPACTS.—The report shall include 15 estimates of impacts of past action under this 16 section, and potential impacts of further action, 17 on— 18 ‘‘(i) upfront financial and construction 19 costs, cost benefits and returns (using a 20 simple payback analysis); 21 ‘‘(ii) resulting energy costs to individ- 22 uals and businesses; and 23 ‘‘(iii) resulting overall annual building 24 ownership and operating costs. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3586 IH ‘‘(e) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO STATES AND IN- 1 DIAN TRIBES.— 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, upon 3 request, provide technical assistance to States and 4 Indian tribes to implement the goals and require- 5 ments of this section, including procedures and tech- 6 nical analysis for States and Indian tribes— 7 ‘‘(A) to implement State residential and 8 commercial building energy codes, including in- 9 creasing and verifying compliance with the 10 codes and training of State, tribal, and local 11 building code officials to implement and enforce 12 the codes; and 13 ‘‘(B) to document the rate of compliance 14 with a building energy code. 15 ‘‘(2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The assistance 16 shall include, as requested by the State or Indian 17 tribe, technical assistance in— 18 ‘‘(A) evaluating the energy savings of 19 building energy codes; 20 ‘‘(B) assessing the economic consider- 21 ations, referenced in section 307(c)(5), of im- 22 plementing building energy codes; 23 ‘‘(C) building energy analysis and design 24 tools; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3586 IH ‘‘(D) energy simulation models; 1 ‘‘(E) building demonstrations; 2 ‘‘(F) developing the definitions of energy 3 use intensity and building types for use in 4 model building energy codes to evaluate the effi- 5 ciency impacts of the model building energy 6 codes; and 7 ‘‘(G) complying with a performance-based 8 pathway referenced in the model code. 9 ‘‘(3) EXCLUSION.—Technical assistance under 10 this section— 11 ‘‘(A) shall not include actions that promote 12 or discourage the adoption of a particular build- 13 ing energy code or code provision to a State or 14 Indian tribe; and 15 ‘‘(B) shall not be provided for adoption 16 and implementation of model building energy 17 codes for which the Secretary has made a deter- 18 mination under section 307(f)(2)(C) that the 19 code is not cost-effective. 20 ‘‘(4) INFORMATION QUALITY AND TRANS- 21 PARENCY.—For purposes of this section, information 22 provided by the Secretary, attendant to any tech- 23 nical assistance provided to a State or Indian tribe, 24 is ‘influential information’ and shall satisfy the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3586.IH H3586 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3586 IH guidelines established by the Office of Management 1 and Budget and published in the Federal Register 2 on February 22, 2002 (67 Fed. Reg. 8452). 3 ‘‘(5) TRAINING.—Support shall be offered to 4 States to train State and local building code officials 5 to implement and enforce model building energy 6 cod [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]